A Good Family

Kim’s warped debut begins on the final night of the Lindstrom family’s annual reunion at the weekend getaway house they call Le Refuge. The next day, Hannah Min drives to Alderson Prison in West Virginia with her younger brother, Sam, and his beautiful blonde wife, Beth, part of the wealthy Lindstrom family, who is about to begin her sentence after being convicted of fraud in her high-ranking position at a pharmaceutical firm. At the prison, the guards assume Hannah, who is Korean American, is the one self-surrendering, and pointing to Beth, who is white, Hannah feels “like a narc.” The narrative is loaded with finger-pointing and suspicions of back-stabbing. Beth’s former nanny, Lise, 16, blew the whistle on Beth’s company’s fraudulent marketing, which led to a child’s death. During a prison visit, Beth asks Hannah, a law librarian, to help find out who helped Lise, and why. Hannah digs into the case and begins uncovering family secrets, such as Sam’s sizable debt to Beth’s brother. In chapters alternating between Hannah’s and Beth’s perspectives, the reader glimpses Beth’s easy time in the white-collar prison and Hannah’s wry commentary on the Lindstroms, as well as kept guessing over which characters are trustworthy. This addictive, over-the-top dramedy would make for a great TV series. Agent: Kirby Kim, Janklow & Nesbit Assoc. (July)